The Repoliticization of the Welfare State

The Repoliticization of the Welfare State grapples with the evolving nature of political conflict over social spending after the Great Recession. While the severity of the economic crisis encouraged strong social spending responses to protect millions of individuals, governments have faced growing pressure to reduce budgets and make deep cuts to the welfare state. Whereas conservative parties have embraced fiscal discipline and welfare state cuts, left-wing parties have turned away from austerity in favor of higher social spending. These political differences represent a return of traditional left-right beliefs over social spending and economic governance. This book is one of the first to systematically compare welfare state politics before and after the Great Recession, arguing that a new and lasting post-crisis dynamic has emerged where political parties once again matter for social spending. At the heart of this repoliticization are intense ideological debates over market regulation, social inequality, redistribution, and the role of the state. The book analyzes social spending dynamics for 28 countries before and after the crisis. It also includes in-depth country case studies representing five distinct welfare state types: Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain, and the Czech Republic

The importance of collaboration and competition within and outside the OECD

The purpose of this paper is to address the role of the OECD in the global marketplace. The paper highlights some current trends in the global market and the changing role of the OECD. In this context, the authors discuss various perspectives on the role of OECD in a globalized world. The authors focus on recent debates on the state of the global economy and the changing position of the OECD in the world market. The authors apply a conceptual approach combined with analyses of data and secondary material. The authors also put forward an argument for investigating what determines competition within and outside the OECD. In this context, creating markets within a global economy requires considerable stimulus on the part of national governments. This necessitates national governments working together in partnership with national and global firms to reduced bureaucracy and increase transparency to boost trade in a cost effective manner. This is seen by some economists to be a prerequisite to future competitiveness. Finally, the authors seek to demonstrate how leading countries within the OECD are building innovative capability to master the challenges and opportunities that the new emerging economies present (such as Brazil)

Economic shifts: reconciling observations and rhetoric within the U.S. economy

For the American people, déjà vu arrived in December 2007, and for the former President of the United States, Barack Obama, it was when he was inaugurated on 20 January 2009, inheriting the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of 1929. At the start of the 2007, financial crisis the United States (U.S.) was experiencing a boom in consumer spending. This came to an abrupt halt when the U.S. housing market collapsed resulting in an $8 trillion dollar housing debt and a steep decline in equity prices. Fallout from the housing crisis quickly spread to the broader economy through a complex web of unclear financial instruments tied to housing and dubious business practices of some financial firms. The resulting loss of wealth led to cutbacks in U.S. credit backed consumer spending. According to the U.S. Department of Labour1, roughly, 8.7 million jobs were shed from February 2008 to February 2010, and GDP contracted by 5 percent, making this the Great Recession the worst since the Great Depression

Factors affecting recruitment into General Practice : a double binary choice approach

Recruitment to General Practice (GP) is currently low in many countries. Here we focus on two binary choices for junior doctors: first, whether to apply to GP; second, whether to accept a GP training place if offered. Previous attitudinal studies have indicated factors claimed to affect recruitment. The current study goes further by quantifying the relative impact of different factors on the propensity of candidates to apply to GP and accept a training place. An online questionnaire was sent to candidates applying to United Kingdom (UK) specialty training in 2015. Descriptive statistics and a path analysis evaluated the importance of various factors on GP applications. Our results were synthesised with an analysis of data from the online applications portal. With 3838 candidates responding to the survey, the path analysis showed that personality and previous GP experiences were strongly associated with the decision to apply. There was some evidence that it was easier to enter GP than other specialties; in terms of deciding whether to accept, the evidence suggests GP was a backup plan for around 9% of candidates who accepted a GP post. Our results indicate that recruitment initiatives should focus on candidates who apply to GP but not as first choice or consider GP but do not apply, particularly by providing substantial experience of GP and accentuating the positives of the specialty such as work-life balance and the intellectual challenge of working with patients in primary care. Acceptance of a GP place may also depend on competition for places in other specialties

Political parties as drivers of post-crisis social spending in liberal welfare states

In the aftermath of the global economic crisis, the challenges facing welfare states are unprecedented. While government leaders have been in broad agreement that the severity of the recession called for decisive actions to limit the costs of the crisis, national responses have differed significantly. This article seeks to explain these divergent patterns and answer the critical question: how has the crisis affected the politics of social spending across liberal welfare states? While political conflict over social spending may increase across all countries in the wake of an economic crises, partisanship is expected to have a stronger effect in liberal welfare states, due to weak automatic stabilizer effects and a reliance on discretionary spending. This research tests the effects of political parties on social spending across nine liberal welfare states (Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea,Switzerland, the UK, and the USA) during the pre-crisis (1990–2007) and post-crisis (2008–2013) periods. It also provides in-depth analysis of the USA and the UK, two representative liberal welfare states who adopted highly dissimilar post-crisis social spending. The findings demonstrate that while political parties were not correlated with social spending during the pre-crisis period, after the global economic crisis they were significant in influencing social spending levels. This indicates an important shift in political dynamics across liberal welfare states over time that has not been fully accounted for by the existing literature

A Hollow Victory: Understanding the Anti-Immigration Shift of Denmark's Social Democrats

The Social Democratic victory in the 2019 Danish general election was a surprising and notable event. The election stands out as an important win for Social Democrats as this party family has experienced a significant decline in voter support across Europe in recent decades. At the same time, the election was marked by controversy as Denmark’s Social Democrats not only doubled-down on their traditional support for the welfare state but also took a sharp turn to the right on immigration policies. This article analyses the effects of political systems, ideology and polarisation, as well as issue salience and framing on party strategies. These variables help to account for the abrupt policy shift adopted by the Social Democrats in Denmark and why similar anti-immigration platforms were not embraced by Social Democratic parties in other Nordic countries. Further examination of voter survey data suggests that the adoption of stronger anti-immigration policies is likely to be an ineffective strategy for Social Democrats going forward

Adaption, implementation and evaluation of collaborative service improvements in the testing and result communication process in primary care from patient and staff perspectives : a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Increasing numbers of blood tests are being ordered in primary care settings and the swift and accurate communication of test results is central to providing high quality care. The process of testing and result communication is complex and reliant on the coordinated actions of care providers, external groups in laboratory and hospital settings, and patients. This fragmentation leaves it vulnerable to error and the need to improve an apparently fallible system is apparent. However, primary care is complex and does not necessarily adopt change in a linear and prescribed manner influenced by a range of factors relating to practice staff, patients and organisational factors. To account for these competing perspectives, we worked in conjunction with both staff and patients to develop and implement strategies intended to improve patient satisfaction and increase efficiency of existing processes. METHODS: The study applied the principles of 'experience-based co-design' to identify key areas of weakness and source proposals for change from staff and patients. The study was undertaken within two primary practices situated in South Birmingham (UK) of contrasting size and socio-economic environment. Senior practice staff were involved in the refinement of the interventions for introduction. We conducted focus groups singly constituted of staff and patients at each practice to determine suitability, applicability and desirability alongside the practical implications of their introduction. RESULTS: At each practice four of the six proposals for change were implemented these were increased access to phlebotomy, improved receptionist training, proactive communication of results, and increased patient awareness of the tests ordered and the means of their communication. All were received favourably by both patients and staff. The remaining issues around the management of telephone calls and the introduction of electronic alerts for missing results were not addressed due to constraints of time and available resources. CONCLUSIONS: Approaches to tackling the same area of weakness differed at practices and was determined by individual staff attitudes and by organisational and patient characteristics. The long-term impact of the changes requires further quantitative evaluation